4-legged mommies: mammals with the longest and shortest pregnancies
Nine months is enough for us to nurture a fetus, but what about our friends in the wild? Some species are baby-making machines, and others are pregnant for almost two years! Here’s a list of mammals covering a wide range of gestation periods:
- Opossum: 12 days
- Rabbit: 31 days
- Dog: 61 days (varies slightly depending on breed)
- Cat: 63 days (varies slightly depending on breed)
- Lion: 108 days
- Pig: 113 days
- Sheep: 150 days
- Grizzly bear: 220 days
- Orangutan: 260 days
- Humans: 266 days
- Dolphin: 276 days
- Cow: 280 days (cows and people have more in common than you’d think!)
- Horse: 336 days
- Whale: 360 days
- Giraffe: 425 days
- African elephant: 640 days (that's almost two years!)